1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to devices for crimping and finishing beadwork.
2. Description of the Related Art
Beadwork is the art or craft of attaching beads to one another or to cloth, usually by the use of a needle and thread or soft, flexible wire. Most cultures have employed beads for personal adornment such as jewelry. Beads have also been used for religious purposes, as good luck talismans, and as curative agents. Archaeological records show that people made and used beads as long as 5,000 years ago.
In modern day beadwork, beads are generally threaded onto a beading wire and secured using a crimping technique. Such techniques involve the use of a crimping device and crimp beads. The crimp beads provide a finished end of the beaded piece and create a loop for clasp attachment.
Modern crimping devices generally resemble a pair of pliers with a raised boss and mated recess on the inner surfaces of the plier jaws. The crimping sleeve is pressed between the boss and recess, thereby flattening the crimping sleeve against the two ends of the looped beading wire. The crimping sleeve is folded and again pressed, forming a generally u-shaped cross section. Both steps must be performed to insure a secure hold. The weakness of this method is that it has very little tolerance for error and often results in a non-secure finish to the work.
The present invention addresses such issues. It provides a modified crimping tool that provides a firmly secured finished end to the bead work while tolerating a wide range of craftmanship error. Moreover, the tool of the present invention eliminates the necessity to perform a second step, thereby saving time and effort.